UNIVERSITY BULLETIN 

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY 



Published by the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical 
College at Baton Rouge. Issued montlily except November and December. 

Entered DecemlDer 22, 1909, at Baton Rouge, La., aa second-ciass matter, 
under Act of Congress of July 16, 1894. 



Vol. 5, N. S. 



MARCH, 1914. 



No. 3. 



V 



LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY 

If 

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENT 



PIG CLUBS IN LOUISIANA 



BY 



Wm. H. BALIS 

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 



BATON ROUGE 

RAMIKES-JONES PltlNTINO Co. 

1914 



MwpgrapTj 







LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY 

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION DEPARTMENT 



EDWIN S. RICHARDSON, 
Director. 

WILLIAM H. BALIS, 

Assistant Director in Charge of Pig Clubs. 

MISS ELIZABETH B. KELLEY, 

State Supervisors of Home Economics, 
Assistant in Charge of Canning Clubs. 

JOHN A. REDHEAD, 

Assistant in Charge of Corn Clubs. 

MISS OLA POWELL, 
Assistant in Canning Clubs. 

MARVIN G. OSBORN, 

Secretar3^ ■ 



ORGANIZATION OF PIG CLUBS BEGAN IN LOUISIANA. 

In Caddo Parish in the fall of 1910 a club of fifty-nine boys 
was organized by the Parish Superintendent of Rural Schools, 
E. W. Jones, for the purpose of raising pigs. The same winter 
similar clubs were started in Ouachita and Claiborne parishes 
and a campaign was conducted by Prof. W. R. Dodson and 
Prof. V. L. Roy on the Rock Island Demonstration Train, which 
resulted in eleven parishes taking up the work. 

The idea of forming clubs of this kind grew out of the Boys' 
Corn Club movement. 

The organization thus started soon proved to be very suc- 
cessful, so in 1911 the Agricultural Extension Department of the 
Louisiana State University undertook the organization of such 
clubs throughout the State. - - " 

In October, 1912, the Bureau of Animal Industry of the 
United States Department of Agriculture began to cooperate with 
the University Extension Department in the Pig Club work in 
Louisiana. ' 

HOW THE WORK DEVELOPED. 

From an organization of 59 boys, the pig clubs have grown 
in three years to a membership of 1,669 boys and girls. The 
number of pigs exhibited by tliem at .the State Fair in Shreveport 
has increased from 27 tp 120, and the quality of the animals 
shown has improved to such an extent that several boys at the 
last show put their pigs in the ring against the best breeders 
of the South and took blue ribbons. 

■ • AIM OF THE PIG CLUBS. 

These clubs, like the corn and canning clubs, are being organ- 
ized to educate the boy and girl to an interest in things of the 
farm. 

The rural school teacher can do nothing that will vitalize 
the work of the school more than to help a boy to learn some- 
thing that will be useful in his work at home. 

The object in having boys raise pigs is to teach them that 
hogs and other stock are profitable in the farming systems of 
Louisiana. 



In 1913 there was sold in .Jjouisiana by three of the big 
packing companies, $6,424,000 in pork products alone. There 
are fifteen other packing companies from which data could not 
be obtained. This means that there is being expended annually 
for every man, woman and child in the State at least $10.00 
for pork products, and the money is going into the pockets of 
farmers in other States. At the same time the live hogs sold 
out of the State are practically a negligible quantity. 

It is a fact demonstrated by the Experiment Station and 
by many farmers that pork can be produced here more econom- 
ically than in the sections whence we are buying. A Boys' Pig 
Club organization can do much to desseminate this information. 

HOW THE WORK IS CARRIED ON. 

The organization of pig clubs is under the direction of the 
Agricultural Extension Department of the Louisiana State Uni- 
versity cooperating with the Bureau of Animal Industry of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. Agencies assisting in 
the work are the parish superintendents of schools, the farm 
demonstration agents, the agricultural high school teachers, and 
the progressive rural school teachers. 

The Extension Department employs an assistant jointly with 
the Bureau of Animal Industry, who has charge of pig clubs. 
It is his duty to visit as many as possible of the schools of the 
State to organize clubs, give instructions to members and teach- 
ers and help in any way that is desired. The assistants in charge 
of the corn, canning and pig clubs are cooperating by organizing- 
all clubs at the same time. 

The Parish Superintendents can be of the greatest service 
in this work, as they have charge of the teachers, and their 
sanction is absolutely necessary before the teachers can give 
their cooperation. Many Superintendents have been directly re- 
sponsible for the success of this work in their parishes 

The Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration office is lending its 
aid by asking its agents, of which there are 50 in the different 
parishes of the State, to help in the pig club work, just as they 
do in the corn and canning clubs. These men, who are prac- 
tical farmers themselves, are in a position to see the work of 




RESERVE CHAMPION SOW. PIG CLUB, 1913. 

STONEWALL. 



GEO. GILMER, 



many of the boys in their homes, and can give a word of per- 
sonal encouragement and advice, which is more effective than any 
letter or bulletin can possibly be. 

The agricultural teachers in the thirty-seven state-aided 
agricultural high schools are required by State regulation to 
spend part of their time organizing corn, pig and canning clubs. 
The work of these men is very largely responsible for the suc- 
cess of the pig club organization. The regulation of the State 
governing this is as follows : ' ' The agricultural extension work, 
which the agricultural teacher in the parish has charge of, shall 
consist in directing and giving information to the boys' corn 
and pig clubs in the parish." 

The real success of the work in the end depends on the active 
interest shown by the teachers in schools where clubs are or- 
ganized. The other agencies named can accomplish very little 
without their help, for it takes daily personal encouragement and 
help to keep the boy interested. These other agencies can simply 
give the expert assistance that is needed. 



6 






r . . . ... - .RXEiES: AND ,R|;^J^4/i:iONa; 

; The few rules we have are;4si)lairied in the fpllowi% para- 
graphs. Local managers can ^matee special rules^.i^ addition, if 

they desire. 

Who Can Join the Pig Club. 

' Any school boy or girl in Louisiana old enough to care for 
a pig. Teachers are requested not to send in names of boys 
who can get no place to care for a pig. 

Kind of Pig to Get. 

Select breed desired and any age. A non-registered pig is 
allowable. A young registered gilt is preferable, because a 
young pig gives the members an opportunity to watch growth 
and development. Later her offspring will be more profitable. 
A non-registered boar is very undesirable. Non-registered bar- 
rows and gilts which are high grade are just as profitable for 
pork as any, provided they are not poor individuals. 

In order to economize it is better for each local club to agree 
on one breed. This will enable one good boar to suffice and 
also make the hogs of the locality more uniform, a very important 
item in shipping to market. Hog breeders of the State have 
made special prices to the club members. Information about 
this may be obtained from the Agricultural Extension Depart- 
ment. Old members should be encouraged to keep sows they 
have fed so as to raise a litter of pigs. Premiums will be offered 
for this in the future. 

Records Must Be Kept by Members. 

These records must show the amount and kind of feed given. 
No record will be accepted which shows that the member did not 
care for the pig at least four months. 

Two record blanks are to be used. One of these is sent to 
the member on receipt of the name, and on it is to be kept the 
record during the year. The other will be furnished just be- 
fore the fair, and both must be returned to the Agricultural 
Extension Department at Baton Rouge when properly filled out. 

No. pig will be allowed to compete for a premium at the 
State Fair unless the record has been made and sent to this 



deparfmeiit. If Toeal cliib managers wisli WHave^tliese'Trepofts, 
ari-ang-ements must be made to have them sent to the Exten- 
sion Department. Keeping this record is the most important 
feature of the work. 

Enrollment of Members. 

Any one interested in organizing a pig club may get the 
names of all boys and girls wishing to join the club and send 
them to,the Agricultural Extension Department at Baton Rouge. 
A blank sheet of paper may be used for this, but ' ' PIG CLUB 
must be written across the top of each sheet. 

This list should show: the name and age of member, post- 
office, rural route, parish, name of teacher, and" name of parent 
or guardian, if necessary to proper delivery of mail. We have 
several hundred letters returned each year because of improper 
adclrass being sent us, so care should be taken about this. 




CARSON SULLIV.AX. 1 1 - YKAR-OF.D BOY OF GOLDOXNA, AND 
SWEEPSTAKES PIG, 1913. 



8 




SWEEPSTAKES SOW, 1912. OTIS WOOD MADE 
PIG IN TWELVE MONTHS. 



f257 WITH THIS 



Fairs and Exhibits. 

The fair associations of the State almost without exception 
have given premiums for the best pigs shown by the boys and 
girls. School boards, banks, police juries, business houses and 
others have added very materially to this. 

In parishes where there is no fair, local club exhibits are 
held, which have been better attended in some cases than the 
regular fairs. After the local fairs are over the best of the pigs 
are taken to the State Fair at Shreveport. In the past arrange- 
ments have been made with the railroads of the State and the 
State Fair Association to do this free of cost to the club mem- 
bers. 

Premiums. 

Premiums offered should be small and so distributed that 
every worthy exhibit may be recognized. If the premium is 
worth as much as twenty dollars it is suggested that it be in the 
shape of a trip to the State Fair or to the winter Farmers' 
Short Course at the Louisiana State University. 

The local club organizers are expected to arrange for the 
premiums at their local fairs. Premiums at the State Fair and 
the exhibit there are in charge of the Extension Department. 

Information about premium lists may be had on application 
to this department. 



Crates for Shipping Hogs, 

The accompanying cut shows a good shipping crate. It is 
extremely dangerous to ship a hog in a poorly made crate. 



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Cleats jor drop gatg ^ 



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21 



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Cko^s action 



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Cleats \or drofx^aXc 



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DESIGN rOR A tlOO SniPPINO CRATt' 



TronT 



View 



Drawn by E. B. Doran. Designed Ity W. P. Martin. 

The crate should be made 8 niches wider than the pig-, 12 inches longer 
and hig-h enough to give plenty of room to stand. The pieces on the sides and 
ends at the bottom should never be nailed on so that cracks will be left that 
the hog's feet can slip through. 



10 

Feed and Care of the Pig. - ; . ' ; -,: ■ ■ -, ■■. ; 

On the last page of this circular there is a list of bulletins 
and other publications which tell how to feed and care for a 
pig. Some of these publications can be had free of cost upon ap- 
plication to the colleges and universities named in the list. 

As the pig club members usually start with one pig each, 
they do not often get a place to take care of them, just as a 
farmer would do with a large number. With one pig it is 
possible to feed largely on waste material around the farm, such 
as unsaleable grain, slops from the kitchen (if they are free from 
washing powders), sour milk and waste vegetables from the 
garden. Every member, however, should try to practice regular 
farm methods as far as possible, as the object of this work is 
very largely to teach the boys how to raise hogs on feeds grown 
at home. This is the only way that hog-raising as a business 
will ultimately pay well in Louisiana, or, for that matter, in 
any other State. Bulletin 124 of the Louisiana Experimnet Sta- 
tion gives a very complete discussion of the feeds that we can 
raise in Louisiana for hogs and how to plant them. 

No boy's pig should ever be put up in a small, filthy pen. 
Every farm has some place on it where a pig can run on Bermuda 
and lespedeza grass. Clean water is another very important 
matter and in hot weather good shade is essential. A pig that 
is allowed to run on a good, clean pasture, with plenty of fresh 
water and shade, will keep in good health and grow better. 

The most important of all, though, is the amount of care and 
attention that the pig gets from the pig club boy or girl who 
is raising it. Some of the boys even wash and brush their hogs. 
The boy who was sent to A¥ashington City for his work in raising 
a pig fed it every two hours until it was about half grown. 
While these things were not all that m.ade their pigs grow, the 
care and attention this indicates is just as important as the feed. 

Every pig club member should be urged to plant some of the 
following crops and let the pigs gather them in the field if pos- 
sible : cowpeas and corn, winter oats or rye, peanuts, sweet 
potatoes, winter rape, stock beets on strong ground, soy beans, 
Bermuda and lespedeza pasture. 



11 






Two-Year-Old Razor-back. Club Pig 6 Months Old. 

Raised by Leo. Vernon, Tangipahoa. 

Some Salient Features of the Work. 

This 3'ear over 500 bo^^s and girls sent in reports of how 
they raised their pigs. 

There were 120 hogs shown by club members at the Louisiana 
State Fair and 50 boys were in attendance. The breeders present 
were so interested in the boys as to direct them how to fit their 
hogs for the show ring, and allowed them to enter their pigs in the 
ring with those of professional breeders, to see how they would 
compare. Some of them were placed first over strong classes of 
breeders' hogs. 

Mary Douglas, a little girl from Gilliam, had a fine pig this 
year. She is to receive all the money she can make until she is 
21 years of age in raising pigs. This money vs to be used for 
her college education. 

Harry Means, a boy from Ida. has a bank account vi $105.00 
made chiefly by raising pigs. And he still has fourteen pigs. 

W. R. Horton, an agricultural teacher in the Dodson High 
School, hvul nine pigs shown b\- his boys in 1912. They all won 
premiums, and this year J\Ir. Horton had to get a car to take his 
club pigs, and then did not liave room for all. 

E. M. Sledge, the agricultural teacher at Goldonna. got a sow 
for his school farm in the fall of 1912. He sold the pigs from 



12 



this sow to the boys in his school, and the pictures show what 
some of them did. The following is a letter from one of his 
boys, written for the Shreveport Journal : 

"Now, boys, do not think it is too much expense to raise a 
pig. Since I was two years old I have been taught to save what 
few dimes I got hold of, and then my papa is agent for the tele- 
phone company, and I have made several dimes as messenger 
boy. I then sold a little yearling I had and it made me enough 
to buy a pig. I was an inexperienced boy in the pig business, 
but I determined to learn all I could and proceeded to do my 
best. I had a little grass lot where I kept ray pig. I fed it on 
shorts mostly and once in a while I gave it some chops. About 
GO days before the Fair I got a little tankage, which is a bone 
producer. My pig was a Duroc Jersey sow. I showed it at the 
State Fair and had good luck. I won four prizes and also sweep- 
stakes. 

The pig cost me from the time I bought it until tlie Fair 4^/^ 
cents per pound, but unless you want to make an exhibit it would 




BOYS FROM SCOTT, LA., AT THE STATE FAIR WITH ONE OP THEIR 
PIGS, WHICH WON SWEEPSTAKES AT THE LAFAYETTE FAIR. 



13 

not cost so much. You cah'grow a pig for about a dollar a month 
if you just want it to grow. Do not let any one persuade you 
not to get a pig, but get a pig the first opportunity you have 
and meet us boys at the State Fair next year with a pig. If you 
can't get one kind, get another. There is more money in hogs 
today than anything we can get. So come along, boys, and let 
us get busy in the pig clubs. Let every one try to have the best 
pigs, and by so doing we will have fine hogs and more of them. 
Let's make this the grandest thing next year at the State Fair."' 

Yours truly, 

Carson Sullivan, 
Member of Pig Club, 

Goldonna, La. 




LITTER MATES. 
Pig Club Methods vs. Root-Hog-or-Die Way. Large Hog raised bj' Orange 

McGee, Golonna. 



■14 



LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ON SWINE 

Teachers may get copies of some of these for the Library. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, "Washington, D. C: 

Hog Houses Farmers' Bulletin 43& 

Hog- Cholera Farmers' Bulletin 379 

Pig Management Farmers' Bulletin 205 

Feeding- Hogs in the South Farmers' Bulletin 411 

Hog Raising in the South Circular 30 

Pig Clubs Farmers' Bulletin 566 

North Dakota Agricultural College, Fargo, N. D.: 

Pork Production Under North Dakota Conditions. .. .Bulletin S3 

Montana College of A. and M. Arts, Bozeman, Mont.: 

Pig Feeding Experiments Bulletin 73 

Experiment with Pigs Bulletin 89 

Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, Wooster, Ohio: 
iSpecific Effects of Rations on the Development 

of Swine Bulletin 213 

Forage Crops for Swine Bulletin 242 

University of Illinois, Urbana, 111.: 

Food Requirements for Gpowmg;. and Fattening Swine. Circular 126 

A Portable 'Panel Fence ' ...;..... Circular 132 

Feeding the Pig. . . . -. . .-. .Circular 13,3 

The Local Construction and Operation of Hog Houses. Bulletiu 1019 
Feeding Swine with Special Reference to Developing ■ " 

- for Breedirig-, Rurpo'ses Circular ,< 1^3 

University . of Wiscdnsiri, Madison, Wis.: - ' ".;•, 

. Portable Hog Houses Bulletiji 153 

■ Relative Value of Shelled Corn and Corn Meal for ,- ". ' ,v- •" 

Hogs....' Bulletin H^ 

Practical Swine Management .'. . .Bulletin i^4 

Uni-versitJ^ of Arkansas, Payetteville, Ark.: , . '■ ' - ' 

Pork Production Experiments ; ;.'.". '.-.Bulletin" 73 

Brood Sows: Selection, Feeding Management. ..... ™Circuiar 10 

Farmers' Handbook on Swine. 1 .................... ^.Circular ' .2 

investigation of Swine Diseases in Arkansas. .;,.... .Bulletin 67 

• '.'■' 

Iowa. State College of A. and M. Arts, Ames, Iowa: 

Forage Crops for Swine Bulletin . . . 

Hogging Down Corn a Successful Practice. Bulletin 143 

University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.: 

Forage Crop Rotations for Pork Production Bulletin llO 

Mississippi A. and M. College, Starkville, Miss.: 

Pork Production at the Delta Station Bulletin 107 

Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala.: 

Fattening Hogs in Alabama Bulletin 168 

Curing Meat on the Farm Bulletin 166 

Louisiana State University and A. and M. College, 
Baton Rouge, La.: 

A Few Facts About Swine Production in Louisiana Cir. 

Breeds of Hogs and Best Crops to Grow for Hogs, 

and Other Data Bulletin 124 



15 

SUMMARY YEAR'S WORK 1913. 



1. Members Heard from not makina; formal re 



o 



port 148 

2. Number reporting. . . 367 

3. Enrollment 1,669 

4. Number of parishes with clubs 40 

5. Average age of pigs when purchased 9.9 weeks 

6. Length of time fed 6.25 months 

7. Average weight at beginning 34.5 pounds 

8. Average weight at reporting 185.5 pounds 

9. Average cost per pound with pasture 4.9 cents 

10. Average cost per pound without pasture ... 6.8 cents 

11. Number each breed owned by Pig Club mem- 

bers: 

Poland China 155 

Duroc Jersey 72 

Grades 75 

Berkshires 43 

0. 1. C 8 

Essex 5 

Tam worth 3 

Yorkshire 2 

Hampshire 3 

12. Number reported lost by cholera 31 

Much of this loss could have been easily prevented had club 
managers insisted on the proper sanitary precautions and used 
anti-hog cholera serum when necessary. Serum is made by the 
State Live Stock Sanitary Board, Baton Eouge. Do not send 
requests to any one but this board. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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